Alain,
I don't think it is reasonable to think Sybase would come
up with any such thing with the current performance of their
products. We use PB 7.0 which gives a GPF every 15 minutes.
we use ASE 11.9.2 which gives core dumps and segmentation faults
when it handles huge volume of data.
We are all familiar with the .0 releases of PowerBuilder. Yes it's a pain, but as I look back to all my previous projects I cannot recollect a single case when a bug stopped us from going to production or drastically affected the schedule. We have always found workarounds. One of the reasons are electronic support forums such as this mailing list and Sybase newsgroups. Don't underestimate these. I am very glad this type of support is finally recognized by the industry. InfoWorld gave the award for best all around paid or free technical support to Sybase newsgroups!
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/01/17/000117opfoster.xml
EAServer can stand on it's own, but one of the reasons I like EAServer is because it offers us *options*. I find that NT doesn't scale I can go to Unix. I start working with PowerBuider components and hit a limitation, I can always go to Java. C++, COM, no problem.
As far as web app development and distributed computing are
concerned, Sybase is not a good choice at all. If you are in
the design phase go for a Java based sol: But don't use PowerJ,
it is the worst java IDE, go for Symantec, Inprise or IBM.
There are far better application servers than EAS like WebLogic,
NetDynamics, Unify EWave etc. They claim that the latest version
of EAS supports J2EE. But I haven't come across anyone who uses
EAS for enterprise application development using Java.
The way the industry is going IDE doesn't mean as much as the application server itself. So when making a decision concentrate on the app servers. Yes there are many good servers on the market. However many of them build their reputation on web based apps. To give you an example last Christmas Toys-R-Us site was crawling or down for almost all of the December. I know this because my wife had to wake up at 5AM to order Pokemon cards. At the same time e-toys seemed flawless (no Pokemon cards though <g>). I was always wondering why that was the case, until it hit me. E-toys was designed from ground app as an e-commerce site. Toys-R-Us probably had a huge challenge in front of them of interfacing the site to all their legacy systems. This is one of the areas where EAServer kicks b*tt !!!
As the business is changing from e-commerce to e-business and portals the integration and co-existence with legacy systems will play a huge role. I'd like to ask those of you working on IT projects. What are the chances your next project will be a pure web / e-commerce app?
I am not alone in this opinion. EAServer just got the Analyst's Choice award from PCWeek
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2428561,00.html
Here is a quote:
"Sybase has hit the nail on the head in the enterprise application server space: EAS 3.5 provides great standards compliance, interoperability with legacy code and servers, and management tools. It should be on the short list of any organization seeking to Web-enable its business."
Sounds like something Sybase marketing would say unless you know this came from Timothy Dyck, the same analyst who has been *very* harsh on Sybase tools in the past and now after looking at EAServer 3.5 did a complete turnaround!
Speaking of Sybase marketing... We all know they were a weak link. Well no more. I don't know how much I can say, but pay attention next time you watch ER, 60 Minutes, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Practice, 20/20, X-Files, NCAA Final Four, and so on... Starting in NY San Francisco and Washington, and possibly later on nationwide there is a chance you'll see a familiar logo.
Finally if you want to get a feel of what Java developers are thinking take a look at the JDJ reader's choice award
http://www.sys-con.com/java/readerschoice2000/
Last time I checked Sybase EAServer was 2 votes away from beating IBM WebSphere for the *first* place. Even if that poll shows potential and not the current users it means a lot. So which two of you want to be the last drops to tip the bucket ?! <g>
Boris Gasin
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Chief Technology Officer
Dynamic Technology Group, Inc.
1055 Parsippany Blvd., Suite 501-26
Parsippany, NJ 07054
Phone: 973.402.5600
Fax: 973.402.5620
